A planned strike by fuel workers at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens during Memorial Day weekend was averted after Gov. Kathy Hochul intervened to help settle the labor dispute, The Post has learned.
Teamsters Local 553 — representing 300 workers and mechanics who fuel commercial and cargo jets at the airport — announced a tentative deal for a new labor contract with Allied Aviation Services, the private firm that services the planes at the regional airports.
The union had been working without a new contract since June 30, 2023, and planned to walk off the job on Friday — the first day of Memorial Day weekend — potentially leaving unfueled planes stranded on runways.
It was not an idle threat. The union went on strike in 2005 in a dispute over compensation and health care.
Hochul personally called Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton to nudge the parties to break the impasse, and her office also reached out to reps with the Teamsters, a source close to the negotiations said.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey oversees the JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports.
Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy appointed the leadership that runs the bi-state agency.
“New Yorkers have invested their hard earned money to travel to see their families and friends, and we won’t let those holiday weekend plans get disrupted,” Hochul said in a statement to The Post.
“We are happy an agreement has been reached, a need for a strike averted, and we are hopeful that the deal will be ratified by our members,” said Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 553.
The union declined to discuss the details of the contract until it is approved by the membership.
A PA spokesperson said, “We’re pleased that the union and the company have reached a tentative agreement.”
Brian Xavier, general manager for Allied Aviation Services at JFK airport, declined comment.
